The GoldMine Compass

GoldMine E-Mail Attachments

2012-05-17T20:18:14Z

If you or other GoldMine users are using GoldMine e-mail, whether you are using GoldMine Premium, Corporate or Standard, this article is a "must read" for you and your IT staff.

GoldMine e-mail, for GoldMine users, has many advantages over Outlook and other e-mail clients. One of those advantages is that GoldMine e-mail attachments, no matter how large the files, or how many you get, they have NO impact on the size of your GoldMine database. GoldMine stores its attachments as linked files. From the database management perspective, that can be a huge benefit. Ask anyone who has to manage the size of a Microsoft Exchange Information Store.

However, even though the attachments are not stored inside of the database, it does not mean that you don't have to manage your attachments. If you are on a 180° Solutions service plan, then we are already insuring that your attachments are properly managed. If not, here are a few things you need to know.

Make sure you know where GoldMine is storing your attachments. To confirm where yours are being stored, be sure to check several users Preference/Options. In PE that's Tools | Options | E-Mail tab | More Options... button | Retrieval tab.
Make sure that folder is also being backed up by your current backup plan.
Check the file count on the root of that folder. If you have over 10K files in that folder, you are likely experiencing performance issues in GoldMine as a result.
Whether you have exceeded that number or not, consider changing your users settings to store attachments by user by year. (see images above, both those options are selected there). These are not on by default but can drastically impact performance.
If your attachment directory is using a UNC path ie (\\Server\GoldMine\Mailboz\Attach, consider using a mapped drive letter instead. Therefore when it's time to move to a new server, or if you should need to move your attachments in the future, it might be easier to do so.
Consider whether it makes sense for your workflow to add or remove the checkmark next to "Save attachments as linked documents". This can also find e-mail attachments accessible through the Links tab in addition to having them accessible via the e-mail. The default setting is turned on.
Consider turning on the "Delete attachments when deleting the mail" setting in the Advanced tab (not shown). If you send GoldMine e-mail between GoldMine users, you may not want to do so until we post Part 2 of this topic.

Hope this helps!
Enjoy and Happy GoldMining!!

E-Mail Auto-Complete

2012-05-01T19:57:22Z

For those of you who frequently send e-mails with multiple to's and cc's, and they happen to be people you e-mail regularly, this post will be an incredible time-saver for you.

GoldMine will store, in your user ini file, a list of the last 10 e-mail addresses you have sent messages to. If you feel comfortable going there, open your own ini file and look for a section called [AutoComplete]. It should look something like this:

Similar to the "Recently Viewed" pane in GoldMine Premium Edition, this is a revolving list. As you send out a new message to someone, GoldMine will put that address at the top of the list, move the rest down, and drop off from the bottom.

To leverage this list, when you start an e-mail, simply type the first letter(s) of the address you are including as an additional recipient and if that letter matches one of the addresses in your last 10, GoldMine will display it for you to choose.

Simply select and continue, no need to search for the address.

That's all there is to it!
Enjoy and Happy GoldMining!!

What Are "Other" Contacts?

2012-04-17T17:26:44Z

So you're sending e-mail broadcasts using GoldMine and you notice there is a contact selection called "Other". And so you wonder, what could "Other" possibly mean? Well, answering that question is what this post is all about.

You may or may not already know that GoldMine allows you to store an unlimited number of e-mail addresses per contact record. Your primary contact can have an e-mail address. Your additional contacts can have an e-mail address. But every contact can also have more than 1 e-mail address they may use. Those extra addresses are called "Other" addresses. In the example below, John has a 2nd Gmail address. If I select Primary and Additional, John's e-mail address would not be included. Selecting "Other" as well, allows John's Gmail address to be included in my broadcast.

That's all there is to it!
Enjoy and Happy GoldMining!!

P.S. If you aren't fully up to speed with using GoldMine for e-mail broadcasting but want to, I would encourage you to read some of our previous posts.

Creating E-Mail Templates
        http://goldminecompass.com/2010/07/02/using-email-templates.aspx
Using E-Mail Templates
        http://goldminecompass.com/2010/08/03/using-email-templates.aspx
HTML Images in E-Mail Templates
        http://goldminecompass.com/2010/08/07/html-images-in-email-templates.aspx
Using E-Mail Merge Codes
        http://goldminecompass.com/2010/12/28/using-e-mail-merge-codes.aspx
E-Mail Merge Codes - Part 2
        http://goldminecompass.com/2011/01/25/e-mail-merge-codes---part-2.aspx

Document Linking from Word & Excel

2012-04-04T17:25:36Z

So you're looking at a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet and this document is not currently linked to a GoldMine record. Or you would prefer to link it to another GoldMine record as well. If you have the GoldMine Plus for Microsoft Office Word & Excel link installed, you can quickly and easily link the open file to the active GoldMine record.

The GoldMine Plus for Microsoft Office add-in will provide you with a GoldMine tab on the navigation ribbon of Word & Excel. That tab includes, among other tools, a Save As GoldMine Linked Document button.

When you click on that button, Word/Excel will prompt you with a standard "Save As" window. This is your opportunity, if you'd like, to give the file a new name and/or location before linking. Maybe this file is already linked and you want to link a separate version of this file as well.

Once you click the Save button, the document is now automatically linked to the active GoldMine contact record. If you were sitting on the Links tab when you started the process, you may have to refresh the display by switching away and then back to the Links tab.

Note that the name in the Document column will be the same as the File name, but of course you can change that if you'd like.

That's all there is to it!
Enjoy and Happy GoldMining!!

Outgrowing GoldMine Standard Edition

2012-03-20T17:23:51Z

With more and more customers moving from Standard to Premium, our need for articles affecting Standard Editions has substantially decreased. However, as much of our content comes from answering real-world questions and issues from our customers, we felt it was time to create an entry about this topic. Over the last few weeks we have come to the rescue of 2 more customers running GoldMine Standard. Basically, they had outgrown the technology.

First developed in 1979, dBase, GoldMine Standard Edition's database management tool, is understandably limited by its age. One of those limits is size. Created in the day when most of us measured RAM in Kilobytes [KB] and disk space in Megabytes [MB], a limit of 2GB likely seemed to many as "more than we would ever need"!! Also affecting you is the old Borland Database Engine which can only effectively manage up to 2 Million records.

And here lies the danger to your data. If you are still happily running GoldMine Standard Edition, your dBase version of GoldMine is now as young as 5 but as old as 15+ years. That said, you might have that many years worth of information. All that information can add up to a lot of space. Once you hit the 2GB limit per file, that file will begin to corrupt. Once you exceed the 2 Million records per file, Borland can have difficulty working with your database. So here is what you need to do.

This example will assume your GoldMine is installed in G:\GoldMine\ and your database is in the G:\GoldMine\Common\ folder. Please adjust accordingly.

1. Go to your G:\GoldMine\Common\ folder and sort by file size. Are any files approaching 2GB?
2. Go to your G:\GoldMine\GMBase\ folder and sort by file size. Are any files approaching 2GB?
3. The next time you run your maintenance, which you should be running regularly, pay attention to the record count for each table. Do you have any tables whose file size is approaching 2 Million records?

Your most likely culprits will be your e-mail text table (MAILBOX.DBT) or your History Notes table (CONTHIST.DBT) but there could be others. Should any of your files be approaching these limits, please contact your GoldMine partner immediately. If you don't have a partner, you are more than welcome to contact us at 909-740-3886.

Either way, remember that the current promo to upgrade to Premium Edition expires at the end of this month on 3/30/12.

Happy GoldMining!!

Relinking History to Another Contact

2012-02-21T18:58:17Z

So you've completed an activity, possibly an Unscheduled Incoming Call, filled in all the fields, put in all your notes, clicked OK, and then realized that you were on the wrong record... Doh!! Well, don't worry, it's not too late to move that activity.

For GoldMine Premium or Corporate Edition 7.5:
1. Right-click on that specific History item and select Edit...
2. Click the Lookup List button to the right of the Contact field. The Contact Search Center window will appear.

3. Now simply find the correct record, and select that contact. That contact's name will be replaced for that history item.
4. Click OK and viola! The history item is now on the correct record.

For GoldMine Standard or earlier versions of Corporate Edition:
1. Right-click on that specific History item and select Edit... Notice that the "Link to" selection at the bottom of the window, is grayed-out.

2. Leaving this window open, search for the correct record.
3. Click back to the open history window and you will find that the "Link to" selection is no longer grayed-out.
4. Click the check-box, click the OK button, and viola! The history item is now on the correct record.

That's all there is to it!

Enjoy and Happy GoldMining!!

E-Mailing Multiple Recipients

2012-02-07T18:13:55Z

GoldMine's built-in e-mail client can be a very powerful tool for many reasons. GoldMine allows you to conduct one-off e-mails to a contact, create a distribution list for multiple contacts that know each other, and conduct e-mail merge campaigns for one-to-one marketing. (such as the e-mail you received notifying you of this new post) However, there is one not too well-known method that many of you might find of interest.

Let's say that you have a contact that wants you to send all e-mails to both him and his assistant. Or maybe a husband and wife might be a better scenario for some of you. John's e-mail is in GoldMine (John@123Company.com) and so is Jane's (Jane456@Yahoo.com). Both may or may not even be attached to the same record. Either way, you need to regularly e-mail both John and Jane. Here's how:

1. Click on the e-mail address of the record. That will bring up the E-Mail Address management window.
2. Click the New button.
3. Add the first address followed by a comma and then the second address.

Note: You can add more than just 2 addresses in the field, but you are limited to a maximum of 75 characters including the comma(s).

4. Click the OK button and the address is ready to be used.

When sending to this new address, GoldMine will recognize that you have more than one address and simply add the others as multiple To: recipients.

That's all there is to it!

Enjoy and Happy GoldMining!!

GoldMine Grid Controls

2012-01-26T02:52:00Z

Introduced in GoldMine Premium Edition 8.5, grid controls is one of those "how did we live without it all these years" type of feature. It makes finding specific items in GoldMine substantially easier and therefore allowing you to get what you need, FASTER!!

The best way to define what a grid is in relation to GoldMine is by example. When you go to the History Tab, the Activity List, the Contact Search Center, etc, the information is displayed as a list, in a row/column format (aka Grid). Every one of those grids has the same tools available to "control" the display. We will use the History tab of a contact record to explain the controls, but this functionality can be found throughout GoldMine.

1. Find a record with lots of History and click on the History Tab.
2. Right click within the list of history items to bring up the local menu.

At the bottom of the menu list you will see three grid controls, Group, Summary, Filter. In this post, we will cover only the Filter control, covering the others in future posts.

3. Select the Filter grid control, unless already checked. The column header will now have pull-down menus available, one for each column.

4. Click on the User column pull-down and you will see a list of all values in this column in this grid for this set of data. In other words, this list is dynamically generated. The reason these user names are listed in this pull-down is because these users have completed history items for this particular contact.

5. Simply select the User you want to filter and GoldMine will only show you history for that user. You can even choose multiple columns to refine your list even more.

6. When you're done, click the X at the bottom of the screen to turn off the filter, otherwise it will stay on even after you change records!

That's all there is to it!

Enjoy and Happy GoldMining!!

Come see updated versions of wMobile and GoldBook

2012-01-24T00:52:33Z

2FavGoldMine

GoldMine is a powerful CRM solution but it does not do everything. We are pleased to present this series of webinars that will show off two of our favorite and most effective GoldMine add on modules.

wMobile 2.1: Mobile and Desktop Web Client for GoldMine

GoldBook 2.0: QuickBooks Integration for GoldMine

Each webinar is only 30 minutes and will deliver live product demonstrations that illustrate why we think these are the best of the best! Sign up for these events - we will make sure it is time well spent.

If you would like your users to access your GoldMine system live from a web browser of any device, we are pleased to present the latest release of wMobile for GoldMine. wMobile delivers a complete GoldMine experience in your favorite web browser for PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Windows Mobile or Palm. New in this release, wMobile will also automatically archive all email sent or received from any device into GoldMine.

Watch a 2 Minute Preview Video then register for our live 30 minute webinar demonstration below.



	Thur, Jan 26, 11 AM Eastern


	Thur, Feb 2, 3 PM Eastern

Do you use QuickBooks accounting for GoldMine? Well then you have to attend our webinar for GoldBook - the most complete integration between GoldMine and QuickBooks on the market today. Easily convert GoldMine contacts into QuickBooks customers or vendors, synchronize QuickBooks transactions and summary data back into GoldMine. Imagine being able to filter GoldMine contacts based on QuickBooks revenue data... now you can...
so come and see it.

Watch a 2 Minute Preview Video then register for our live 30 minute webinar demonstration below.



	Thur, Jan 26, 3 PM Eastern

	Thur, Feb 2, 11 AM Eastern

Adding Members to an Existing Group

2012-01-10T21:33:12Z

Though far from the only way to add members to an existing group, here is one that most people may not likely be familiar with.

1. Open the Contact Search Center and bring up the record or records you wish to add to your group.
2. On the left side of the Contact Search Center window you will see a blue "handle". When you move your mouse over it, your mouse pointer will change into an Orange pointer finger. Click on the blue handle to display a Filters & Groups management window.

3. Open the Groups tree to show the list of your existing groups.

4. Select the contact or contacts from the search center that you would like to add to the Group.
5. Using your left mouse button, drag selected contacts to the specific group you want them added to.
6. Once you release the mouse button, the Add Members to Group dialog box will appear.

7. Type in the Reference or select one from the F2 Lookup list if you'd like. You can also select the option to not specify the Reference for the remainder of your current GoldMine session. Select the "Do not show me again this message during this session (the above fields will be blank by default )".
8. Click OK and the contacts will be added to the Group.
9. You will then get a confirmation from GoldMine that your contact(s) has been added to the group.

That's all there is to it!

Enjoy and Happy GoldMining!!

GoldMine's Recently Viewed Contacts

2011-12-28T18:35:28Z

If you are still running GoldMine Corporate Edition or Standard Edition, then no doubt you regularly wish you could see a running list of recently viewed or modified records in GoldMine.

One of the many new features available in GoldMine Premium Edition is the Recently Viewed contacts list in the new View Window. This list offers a quick overview of all the records you have been working with on a per-user basis.

You can quickly navigate through these contacts with a single click instead of trying to remember and then searching for that record. Over time, every additional click to complete a task adds up. Helping us use GoldMine more efficiently will reduce the amount of time spent performing the same actions over and over.

GoldMine's Recently Viewed list has a one user-defined parameter, the amount of records displayed. The default value is 5. Most users find that 5 is simply not enough, and prefer to increase the number of records displayed. Here's how to change your setting:

1. Click on Tools | Options | System tab
2. Change the value of the Recent items shown to the number of records you would like to see in the recently viewed pane.

That's all there is to it!

Here's a tip for Administrators: This number can be globally modified for all users at once. Of course you always want to backup your SQL database before making any changes. Once that's done, simply run the following query in SQL Server Management Studio:

UPDATE history
SET cnt = 15

Enjoy and Happy GoldMining!

GoldMine 9's Password Security Enhancements

2011-11-01T17:29:59Z

One of the new, long-awaited enhancements to GoldMine Premium Edition 9 is the ability for an administrator to implement more stringent password policies. Now, a GoldMine Administrator can implement minimum password lengths, lock the account after several failed login attempts, and limit password repetition.

The following menu actions are only accessible by users with MASTER rights:

1. Click on Tools | Configure | System Settings.
2. Click on the Password Policy tab.

Here you can set all of the options previously listed. Note, this is a Global setting and will affect ALL users.

There is one more setting to show you which is login specific, and that is "how long" someone can use their password before it expires. This setting can be set differently for each user.

5. Click on Tools | Users' Settings...
6. Double-click the specific user account you wish to change.

Here's where you can set the number of days a user can use the same password and the date they will be due to change it.

One final note... here's where you go to "Unblock" an account when someone mistypes their password too many times and locks their account.

That's all there is to it!

Enjoy and Happy GoldMining!

Using GoldMine Record Alerts - Part 2

2011-10-18T18:19:50Z

So now you're using Record Alerts (maybe) but you want to make some changes to a previously created Alert, or you want to remove an Alert from the list. But you don't see where you can edit the list. In newer versions of GoldMine, FrontRange tells you where to find the list but it may not be very obvious.

When creating a new Alert, the New Contact Alert window tells you were to find that list.

How do you get there?

1. In GoldMine Premium Edition, click on GoTo | Knowledge Base…
In GoldMine Corporate or GoldMine Standard Edition, click View | InfoCenter.
2. Double-click the section titled Knowledge Base to show the books.
3. Open the System book.
4. Open the Contact Alerts folder.
5. There you will see the various pages, 1 for every Alert you have.
6. Right-click to Edit or Delete as needed.

One last tip for Admins... how to change the time delay for record alerts:

I mentioned in the last post, when a user lands on the record, approximately 7 seconds later, the Record Alert will pop up.

To change that time delay, place the following setting in the [GoldMine] section of the GM.ini file.
RecAlertSec= <number of seconds before the alert appears>

That's all there is to it!

Enjoy and Happy GoldMining!

Using GoldMine Record Alerts

2011-10-04T22:35:41Z

Have you ever needed a way to notify/warn GoldMine users of something important about a contact record but ONLY if/when they need to know? For example, letting someone know that this record has a "Large Sale Pending", or this record is on temporary "Credit Hold". Neither of which may be something you want to send an e-mail broadcast about and hope users will remember when the time comes. The good news is that GoldMine has a feature that does just that. It's called "Record Alerts".

1. Click on Edit | Record Properties… | Record-related Settings…
2. Click on the Alerts tab.
3. Check Enable alerts.
4. Select (check) the Alert(s) to assign.
(if none exist or apply, click the New Alert button)
5. You also have the option to select 'Log this alert in history when user is alerted'.
6. Click OK.

Now, when a user lands on the record, approximately 7 seconds later, the Record Alert will pop up, forcing him/her to "Acknowledge" the message before continuing.

That's all there is to it!

Enjoy and Happy GoldMining!

Quickly Closing Tabs in GoldMine PE

2011-09-20T17:11:08Z

This week's tip is short and simple. As you are working through the day, you may find that too many tabs are open and it would be nice not to have to close them all separately. Or, at the end of the day, you may simply want to close the open windows so GoldMine will open faster the next time you open it. (GoldMine remembers all your open windows and reopens them the next time you launch it.)

Closing all your windows, except the Contact window, is quick and easy. You can even add it to your toolbar button list:

Simply click Window | Close All

That's all there is to it! In the example above, GoldMine would then close 6 of the 7 tabs in about a heart-beat.

Enjoy and Happy GoldMining!

Scheduling Activities with No End Date

2011-09-08T15:44:59Z

As one of several enhancements introduced in GoldMine 9.0, GoldMine now gives users the ability to schedule an activity with "no end date". Previously, if you had a weekly sales meeting for example, you would have to schedule the recurring activity who knows how far out, and then do it again when you neared that end date. Now there is an easier way.

Start the scheduling as usual:

1. Schedule | Appointment
2. Set all the basic parameters, Reference, Date, Time, etc.
3. Click the Recurring tab
4. Click the No end date radio button and more options will be displayed
5. Once you've made your selections, click the Schedule button.

That's all there is to it!

Want more techie stuff, keep reading. If not, stop here.

So how does it work? First, the number of instances initially created depends on the recurrence period:

• for a daily or weekly activity, GoldMine will generate 1 year into the future
• for a monthly one, 2 years
• for a yearly activity, 5 years

Additional instances are created over time, based on a rollover period. For the daily or weekly activities, the rollover period is 6 months. When GoldMine detects that the activity has less than 6 months worth of scheduling it will create 6 more months, automatically! For the monthly appointments, the rollover period is 1 year. For yearly appointments, the period is 4 years.

At the present time, these settings are hard coded.

Enjoy and Happy GoldMining!

Access Your GoldMine Information from Anywhere

2011-08-16T16:49:24Z

Whether you have missed our previous information regarding wMobile Phone and wMobile Desktop or whether you've just been too busy to look into it, wSystems has produced a new 2 minute video showcasing many of the advantages of wMobile. Many of us simply don't have the time for a 30 minute demo but most of us have 2 minutes to spare. So I invite you all to take a quick breather, and see how wMobile can bring your GoldMine data to your fingertips almost anywhere.

Click on the image to watch the video (a new window will open):

If you would like more information, please don't hesistate to contact us.

Happy GoldMining!

How to Properly Delete GoldMine Users

2011-08-09T18:40:16Z

This is for GoldMine Admins only. Starting in GoldMine Premium Edition 8.02, FrontRange Solutions added a feature to GoldMine to improve the efficiency of deleting a GoldMine user account. When attempting to delete a user, GoldMine Admins using 8.02 or later now receive a new dialog box to facilitate the reassigning of pending activities.

However, even with this option, we recommend at least starting the cleanup process using the manual method. Moreover, pending activities is not the only user-specific item that needs to be dealt with before deleting a user. Otherwise you risk leaving a lot of junk behind in your database, or prevent the accessing of certain items that still may be needed by other users.

As this is an Admin function, and to keep the post from going too long, we will cover each step with fewer details and no other screen captures.

Temporarily give this user MASTER rights, resetting his password if needed. This will allow you to clean up without any security-related restrictions.
Login as that user.
Open the E-Mail Center.
Check to be sure the account is no longer receiving e-mail, otherwise make sure you take care of the forward and/or autoresponder so your customer's e-mails aren't getting lost or bounced.
Review the Inbox, Outbox, and Draft folders to see what may be in there that needs to be addressed. If using GMPE 8.02 or greater, and reassigning in bulk, you can move the Inbox items later. Also keep in mind that GoldMine also has the Territory Realignment tool with even more options.
Empty the Deleted folder.
Open the Activity List.
Click on the Open Activities folder (or Open Tab) and show all dates for that user.
Delete, complete, or move as required. If using GMPE 8.02 or greater, and reassigning in bulk, you can move those items later. Also keep in mind that GoldMine also has the Territory Realignment tool with even more options.
Open the Reports Center.
Delete or move any custom reports under that user's name.
Open the Document Management Center.
Delete or move any custom documents, including e-mail templates, under that user's name.
Check for any user specific Filters, Groups, or SQL Query items.
Delete or move any of those as well.
If using Opportunities, Projects, and Cases, delete or reassign those as well.
If applicable, check for Automated Processes, Private Distribution Lists, E-Mail Rules, Private Knowledgebase articles, and a Personal Address Book.
Log out and log back in as another MASTER user and now you can delete the account you just cleaned up.
GoldMine will automatically remove the user's .ini file. However, you may also want to go out to the GoldMine folder and remove the user's .tbi and _info.bin files as well.

That's all there is to it. Happy GoldMining!

Reducing the Contact Search Center Lookup List

2011-07-27T16:39:38Z

With the introduction of GoldMine Premium Edition, FrontRange Solutions gave us a more powerful, easier-to-use tool for finding our data. Whereas we used to only be able to search records using about 12 indexed fields, we can now search on ANY field in our database. However, this drop-down list can get rather long if we have many user-defined fields. For some customers, many of those fields do not need to be available from the pull-down menu list. Starting in PE 9.0.0, we can now reduce the list to only show items we want available. Here's how to do so.

1. Open the Contact Search Center window
2. Click on the Options button near the top of that window.

3. Click the More Options... button near the bottom of the dialog box.

In the More Options screen you can now select or deselect any of your fields from the lookup list.

4. Once you are done, click on OK and your list should now be reduced.

Note 1: This selection is user specific and other users will need to follow the same steps to adjust their list.
Note 2: Removing the item from the list will not prevent you from being able to double-click the field and search so don't worry about locking it down too much.

That's all there is to it. Happy GoldMining!

Adding Folder Shortcuts to the Links Tab

2011-07-12T18:00:21Z

The Links Tab is a great place to keep shortcuts to Word documents, Excel Spreadsheets, PDFs, and other contact related documents. But what about getting to a particular folder? In our office, we maintain individual network folders for each client. If we want to be able to open that folder from the GoldMine record, there is a little trick to help pull that off.

1. Click on the Links tab for the record you want the folder shortcut to appear in.
2. Right-click in a blank area and select New... The Linked Document window will appear.
3. Click on the browse button to search the network for the folder you want to be able to open.

4. Select one of the files inside the folder you want to be able to open.
That file will now appear in the File Name section of your Linked Document dialog box.
5. Manually remove the file name, leaving only the path and folder with the trailing backslash.
6. Add a Document Name indicating what this folder is.

7. Click OK, and you should now be able to open the folder from this contacts Links tab.

That's all there is to it. Happy GoldMining!

Configuring GoldMine to use GMail

2011-06-02T16:45:22Z

So, you use GoldMine for your e-mail but also have a GMail account and would prefer not to have to look in 2 places? If you are using GoldMine Corporate Edition 7.5 or greater or GoldMine Premium Edition 8.5 or greater, you're in luck. GoldMine can be configured to retrieve and even send e-mail through GMail. (*Running an older version of GoldMine, skip to the end for additional information.)

1. Tools | Options (CE customer Edit | Preferences)
2. E-Mail tab

Assuming this is a 2nd account...

3. Accounts... button
4. New button

And your screen will look similar to this:

Note that we changed the Port for both POP and SMTP, we are using SSL for POP and Start TLS for SMTP.

Finally, you will need to Enable POP in GMail. Instead of retyping all those instructions, here, follow this link and Google will show you how: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=13273

That's all there is to it. Happy GoldMining!

*If running an older version of GoldMine, you are not totally out of luck. Their is a solution we can recommend called Stunnel that can simulate SSL encryption. Feel free to contact us for more information.

Prioritizing Activities

2011-05-17T18:43:00Z

Many of you use GoldMine as your "virtual memory", using GoldMine to help us manage what you need to do and when. This basic feature has been around since the very first PIM (Personal Information Manager). Some of you use the calendar and others the Activities List. For those of you who, for example, have a large volume of calls to make, there is a not-so-well-known feature in GoldMine that lets you prioritize your calls by its "level of importance".

When you schedule a basic activity, such as a call, you can place a letter in the Time field. When you do so, GoldMine changes the label of the field to Priority.

Now you can organize your calls by level of importance. For example, your A priority calls can be your HOT leads, your B=Warm, C=Cold, and so on.

That's all there is to it. Happy GoldMining!

Setting up Different E-Mail Templates for New Messages, Replies, and Forwards

2011-05-03T18:26:00Z

E-Mail templates are a great solution for automating the closing section of your e-mails. In previous blog posts, we showed you how to create e-mail templates, e-mail templates with html logos, and e-mail templates with merge codes. Here they are again as a refresher:

Creating E-Mail Templates In GoldMine

HTML Images in E-Mail Templates In GoldMine

Typically, we teach our clients to create 2-3 templates for their signature files. One for New messages, one for Replies, and optionally one for Forwards.. though the reply template can be used for forwards as well. We subscribe to the philosophy that as you are exchanging e-mails, your recipients really don't need ALL your contact info, logo, quotes, icons, etc... EACH AND EVERY TIME. So your New e-mail templates have all the cool info.

However, your reply template can be nice and simple.

If you and your contact are quoting each previous text with each back and forth, you will both appreciate the reduced clutter. So will your database and your printer.

Once you create both templates, you can set them as defaults for your various message types. Right from within the Document Management Center, right-click the desired template, click Set as Default, and choose which default you want to set (New, Reply, or Forward).

That's all there is to it. Happy GoldMining!

Scheduling a call to a Filter/Group

2011-04-19T16:41:00Z

So you've just bought a new list, returned from a trade-show, or rolled out a new product line and you've got LOTS of calls to make. How do you schedule all those calls you ask?

For PE users running 8.5.1 or later
    1. Schedule | Call
    2. Complete the Reference line and any Notes
    3. In the Detail tab, click the magnifying glass button to the right of the contact name
    4. Choose "Select filter or group..."

    5. Select the Filter or Group from the list
    6. Click on the Users tab if you want to split up the calls between users
    7. Click on the Series tab to schedule at different times, max per day or duration, etc.
    8. Click the Schedule button

If you chose multiple users, GoldMine will schedule in rotation until all contacts have a call scheduled.

For SE, CE, or earlier version of PE
1. Schedule | Call
2. Complete the Reference line and any Notes
3. Click on the Filter/Group tab
4. Place a checkmark next to "Schedule to a group of contacts"

    5. Select the Filter or Group from the list
    6. Make any changes you wish to schedule at different times, Activities per day, etc.
    7. Click on the Users tab if you want to split up the calls between users
    8. Click the Schedule button

That's all there is to it. Happy GoldMining!

GoldMine's Built-in Spam Filter

2011-04-08T18:26:00Z

When did GoldMine get a built-in spam filter? Well actually, it's been there for a very long time. The key is knowing "how" to use it. Those of you who are accustomed to some of the conventional spam filtering software... GoldMine takes a different approach. Instead of using complex algorithms to scan for content, format, etc., GoldMine comes at it from an "opt-in"-like approach. GoldMine can be configured to only grab mail from addresses it recognizes. Here's how to set that up.

Warning to all of you who are faint-of-heart... this solution requires discipline, and initially, a little patience.

    1. Tools | Options (for SE and CE, use Edit | Preferences...)
    2. E-Mail tab (for older versions of GoldMine use the Internet tab)
    3. More Options... button
    4. Retrieval tab
    5. Add a checkmark next to "Skip messages from contacts not on file”

6. Click OK, then OK again

GoldMine will now only download e-mail from addresses it recognizes. In the example above, GoldMine is looking for new mail every 10min. However, what about the legitimate e-mail that it skips because that address is NOT in GoldMine? Well, here is where the discipline comes in. We teach users to check the online folder for non-downloaded messages when they are responding to new mail. For example, you pause to deal with e-mail, answered the 5 new messages that auto-downloaded, now simply click the Online folder and see what else is out there. You then delete the junk/spam without downloading it, and grab any valuable mail. If the message is really valuable, you can choose to add the address to GoldMine. Now little by little, you are actually improving the accuracy and quality of your database.

Other benefits include reduced risk of viruses, fewer interruptions (you have mail!), and a cleaner database for improving future marketing efforts.

Purchasing Options for Office 2010

2011-03-22T19:39:00Z

Though not a topic one would expect to find on a GoldMine blog, as businesses are considering new Server 2008, Windows7, and now Office 2010, we have been getting asked on a regular basis about the flavors and version of Office. As a Microsoft reseller, we also had to take it one step forward... What "type" of license should I buy?

If all you need is to find out which suite is right for you, here is the Microsoft link for that information: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/office-2010-which-suite-is-right-for-you-FX101825640.aspx. Note, that as per Microsoft, "Office Home and Student" licenses are not to be used in a "for-profit" business.

If you are only buying a few licenses, stop here, the rest of the article will just add extra info you won't need.

The real research came when asked about Volume License vs. Box Product. Why should I spend more (or not) on Volume Licensing?

Can be deployed using 1 license key. No need to keep track of which key is installed on which PC.
Allows for disk image deployment. You can install it on one PC, then you can image that install, and roll it out to other PCs.
Includes "Networking" rights: The ability to install Office 2010 on a Thin Client Server and not have to provide that server its own per user license of Office too.
Includes "Downgrade" rights. If need be, you can opt to install an older version of Office instead.

And if you're interested, here is the link comparing the 2 flavors of volume licensing suites: http://office2010.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/office-2010-volume-licensing-suites-comparison-FX101825637.aspx.

Enjoy!

Finally! A Web Client for GoldMine

2011-03-11T14:51:00Z

Introducing wMobile 2.1

We've been getting these questions at least once or twice a week now: Does GoldMine have a web client? Can we run it over the Internet via a browser? Up until now, the answer was "not really" or a flat out "NO, sorry". However, now our answer can be a resounding "YES!" Or, if you prefer: "We have an app for that".

Introducing wMobile PC! wMobile, the best solution for accessing GoldMine on any phone, can now recognize that you are running your browser on a desktop and therefore give you a new, robust, interface for your GoldMine product.

Want to find out more? Register for one of the live web events listed below. (Note: The times below are EST, so please adjust accordingly.) Already a wMobile customer? You'll get this enhancement as part of your regular software maintenance at no additional charge!

No images? View online »

You are invited to attend one of our 30 minute live web events where we will demonstrate our new wMobile capabilities and answer any of your questions.

New Web Based Desktop User Interface

Finally, a web based user interface that mirrors the GoldMine Premium user experience. On a laptop or desktop computer, PC or Mac, your users can connect live to your central GoldMine Premium data, connecting quickly through a web browser such as Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox or Google Chrome.
High Performance and Scalable Technology

wMobile Phone and Desktop Edition will scale to support 100’s of users on a single web server. wMobile’s light weight web clients support worldwide access to GoldMine from a single web server location.
No Remote Installations

Your wMobile users are up and running in seconds with no software to install. Just add a new web address to your web browser and you are up and running.
No Monthly User Charges

wMobile is an inexpensive one time purchase giving you a perpetual license to web enable your remote CRM users.
New Email Integration to GoldMine

wMobile can be configured to automatically link email sent to and received from contacts to their GoldMine Premium CRM contact interaction history. Remote users can send and receive email using any smart phone or web based email system without plug-ins or any user action to add the email to the central GoldMine contact history.
New Support for Multiple GoldMine Contact Sets

For GoldMine Premium systems using multiple contact sets - wMobile now supports users switching at will between contact sets.
New Dedicated Google and LinkedIn Tab

Show Google satellite map, directions, blog or web searches for the currently viewed contact. Check to see if the current contact is in your LinkedIn network.
New Automated Process Support

wMobile users can now attach automated process tracks on contacts to automate marketing and administrative tasks using GoldMine’s powerful automated process feature. wMobile also shows the processes tab on contact records to allow users to manage existing tracks.
New Filter Based User Security

wMobile supports a new easier to manage security model of limiting users access to information subject to a common GoldMine filter rule rather than complex ownership and curtaining maintenance.
New Relationship Tree Handling

New Support of GoldMine Premium Relationship Trees in Both Phone and Desktop Editions of wMobile.

	MARCH 2011

	Eastern USA time


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Turning off "link e-mail address to contact"

2011-02-23T18:27:00Z

Those of you using the GoldMine e-mail client already know that by default, when you link a message to a contact, GoldMine will want to automatically link the "e-mail address" to the contact as well. When this happens, all future messages from that address will auto-link to that same record. When that is the desired outcome, it's one of the most valuable benefits of using GoldMine e-mail. However, when you really didn't intend for GoldMine to start doing that, it can equally be one of the most frustrating drawbacks to using GoldMine e-mail. One untrained or careless user can wreak havoc on the quality of your data.

The best solution for most users, is to not ask GoldMine to link it by default, but instead make the user select that option. Here's how to change the setting. Please note, this needs to be done for each user.

For PE Users

Tools | Options
E-Mail tab
More Options... button
Advanced tab
Remove the checkmark next to "Link e-mail address to contact record by default"
(In earlier versions of GoldMine it reads "Link/Unlink address when (un)linking E-mail")
Click OK, then OK again

Now when you link or re-link a message to a contact, GoldMine will uncheck the box by default, forcing you to manually check it off when you actually do want to link the address.

In the latest version of GoldMine Premium Edition, GM will even go as far as asking to confirm the address move during a re-linking.

For Standard and Corporate users you can use the following steps:

Edit | Preferences...

E-Mail tab
More Options... button
Advanced tab

Note, the verbiage may be a little different and I'm not sure exactly which version this option was added to, but if you send me your feedback I will update this post with that information.

Enjoy!

Tell me why I should upgrade

2011-02-08T17:35:00Z

This topic seems to come up at least every other day. For those of you who have worked with us at 180° Solutions, you know we don't believe in answering that by simply bragging about the new features, functions, bells, and whistles. Enhancements in a new version are only part of the reason. Here are the 4 general questions to ask when considering ANY upgrade, even when the upgrade is FREE:

Does the new version have SOMETHING NEW ADDED that will make it worth the cost of upgrading? (consider the indirect costs)
Does the new version FIX SOMETHING that is affecting our use of the product, and is eliminating that issue worth the cost of upgrading?
Do I want/need to upgrade my workstation(s), server(s), Office versions, etc, and does my current version support that change?
Is current version unsupported or being discontinued?

If you've answered yes to any of these general questions, then you are likely well under way establishing the need to upgrade. If you answered NO to all the questions, then you are likely better off staying on the version you are using. Remember, there is no need to chase technology... it's all about the business need!

E-Mail Merge Codes - Part 2

2011-01-25T17:14:00Z

Since our Using E-Mail Merge Codes post, we have heard from several customers that they were interested in the concept but it seemed like too much work to change their current "record" level setup. So here's what we would recommend. Send your broadcast in 2 batches. The 1st batch to just your Primary contacts, and the 2nd batch to your slowly growing list of secondary contacts whose merge codes you have populated.

Therefore, over time your broadcast will contain more and more recipients without having to change all your contacts at once.

Enjoy!

Keeping Users from Deleting Records

2011-01-11T17:04:00Z

How do you keep users from deleting items in GoldMine? Though there are other levels of control, we will only cover 2 in this lesson. First is keeping users from deleting Activities created by other users while still being able to delete their own items. As a user with MASTER rights, go to Tools | User Settings... (in Standard and Corporate that's File | Configure | User Settings... ) highlight the user you want to restrict and click the Properties button. Once in the users Properties screen, click on the Access tab. Remove the check-mark next to the Delete option.

Many customers have found this setting to be too restricting and would just like to keep users from Deleting entire contacts. Here's how to do that: As a user with MASTER rights, go to Tools | User Settings... highlight the user you want to restrict and click the Properties button. Once in the users Properties screen, click on the Menu tab. Scroll down to the Edit menu and expand the folder. Click on the push-pin next to "Delete Contact" to change the color from green to red.

As an added bonus to the Premium Edition users, it removes the all-to-powerful red X in the contact window.

Enjoy!!

Using E-Mail Merge Codes

2010-12-28T17:14:00Z

If you've been using GoldMine for any extended period of time, you are likely familiar with Filters, Groups, or SQL Queries in order to segment your data for marketing purposes. (ie, all records whose Contact Type = Customer AND whose State = CA). This allows you to market to your contacts at the "record" level. But how do you manage your list at the "e-mail address" level? This is where the E-mail Merge Code comes in.

Note that you can string along values. For example, this e-mail address will receive Blog Updates and Seminar Invitations. However, I might not want to send Jane seminar invites, and Fred wants nothing. Then when I send out my broadcast I can limit the recipients to only those addresses whose e-mail merge code "contains" BLG.

And of course, I always encourage using the "Queue for delivery" selection just in case.

Added Tip from the guys over at IntelliClickSoftware.com: If you are careful with your merge code creations, ensuring there is no overlap, you can use less letters and no spaces and therefore be able to add more merge codes in the available 20 character field. (ie. A,B,C,D,E)

GoldMine Menu Security

2010-12-15T21:38:00Z

One of the many things we do to improve the quality of a GoldMine implementation is to setup menu security. Menu security is simply removing the ability for users to access features you either don't want them using, or they simply do not need to use. For example, what if in your company's use of GoldMine, you want to limit the users to only a few activity types (for reporting purposes and standardization)?

As a user with MASTER rights, go to Tools | User Settings... highlight the user you want to restrict and click the Properties button. Once in the users Properties screen, click on the Menu tab.

Scroll down to the menu you want to restrict and expand the folder. Click on the push-pins to change the color from green to red and that will restrict that menu item. Once you've made all your changes, you can Save all those settings and apply them one by one to all the users you want to restrict the same way.

What to expect in GoldMine PE 9.0.1

2010-12-01T17:36:00Z

The next update to GoldMine Premium Edition 9 is still about a month or so away, but we are already getting some good information as to what to expect. With some of you already looking at Office 2010, I wanted to get out this information ASAP.

It seems to be doing very well in BETA testing so far, so that's great news! Of course it will be filled with a whole bunch of bug fixes. Actually, some of you may have already started receiving notices from FrontRange confirming one of your issues has been resolved in the 9.0.1. But what else can we expect?

Support for Microsoft Office 2010 (32-bit version).
Access to Windows certificate stores to authenticate digitally signed e-mail messages.
Ability to minimize the details pane that shows fields in the Opportunity Manager, Project Manager, and Service Center.

When can we expect it? As of now, it should be completed and ready to go by December, but due to the holidays, we can likely expect it early January 2011. I will post more here as additional information becomes available.

Personalizing Public Templates

2010-11-16T17:25:00Z

That sounds like an oxy-moron right? How can you possibly make a template that can be used by everyone, "public", yet personalize it for the individual user? Simple…Merge Codes and "User Variables". In a previous post we showed you how merge codes worked. Merge codes such as <<&firstname>> can let you personalize the e-mail to a client. But how do you personalize it for the user? You create the public template with the standard content, and then add the personalized merge codes similar to this:

So, where do you get those codes? The <<&userfullname>> is built-in. GoldMine pulls it from the Full Name field in the logged in users preferences. The other fields are entirely custom and you can name them anything you want... as long as they start with &user_var. that is. You create them yourself in the user.ini file.

You will likely have to create your own [user_var] section, but that's all there is to it. Create any variable you need and use it anywhere in the template you'd like.

Tracking eMarketing "Inside" of GoldMine

2010-11-03T16:15:00Z

So now you know how to create e-mail templates, add logos and other images as HTML references, and create full-blown HTML based e-mails. Hopefully you have already started to use these tools to reach your customers and prospects. But now what? How do you track your efforts? Industry tools such as Constant Contact and iContact provide you with open and click-through statistics, but no easy way to tie them back into GoldMine.

- Would you like to not only see your outgoing e-mail in GoldMine but also who opened it and when?
- Is it of value to you to know who downloaded the PDF file or clicked through to your website?
- How much more could you learn from knowing where on your website they went or how long they were there?
- What if someone could click a button on your e-mail that would schedule a call in your GoldMine calendar?
- Would your sales team benefit from receiving "immediate" notification regarding a prospect interest?

All this and "much more" is available through IntelliClick Software.

GoldMine Integration
Open Tracking
Web Navigation Tracking
Built-in HTML Editor and Templates
One-Click Literature Fullfillment
One-Click Event Registration
Bounce Management
Instant Notification
Tracking Reports

Includes a Multi-Step Wizard

Provides Tracking Inside of GoldMine

All New "Built-In" HTML Editor & Templates

Weekly Webinars are available if you want to see it in action: Click Here for a list of dates

Creating High Impact E-Mail Templates

2010-11-03T16:12:00Z

Are you tired of plain text e-mails? Don't know how to jazz-up your templates without having to outsource or hire someone? Want to do it all in GoldMine? It's easier than you think.

Built into all versions of GoldMine 6.x or greater, is the ability to send Rich Text / HTML e-mails. If you received a blog update notice from us, you likely saw this in action. HTML e-mails, broadcasted directly out of GoldMine. No exporting, no 3rd party costs, everything done in GoldMine.

Though the screen capture below comes from a tool called High Impact, the principles apply to most any program out there that provides you with editable templates. For as low as $99, downloadable from http://www.templatezone.com/html-email-marketing-software/view-template-samples, High Impact provides you with a large library of templates to start with. They even have a trial download to play with before you buy.

You can customize the Color Theme, insert your own images, and they even give you a place to upload your files to. When customizing the templates you can go ahead and type your own GoldMine merge codes into it (ie. <<&firstname>> or <<&company>> ) . Once you are happy with the template appearance, just copy the HTML code and paste it into a new GoldMine E-Mail template (see previous blog posts on how to create new GoldMine E-Mail templates with HTML logos).

As always, test it on yourself and co-workers before using it in a broadcast, but that's all there is to it.

One more tip: Be careful using ones with too many graphics as those may not make it through some spam filters.

GoldMine Corporate Edition 7.6 Released

2010-09-10T22:01:00Z

For those of you who may not have received the announcement, GoldMine Corporate Edition 7.6 was just released today 9/10/2010. What's in it for you? Here are some highlights from the announcement:

Additional Microsoft Technology Platform support:
· Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)
· Microsoft Windows Server 2008 SP1 (32-bit and 64-bit)
· Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit only)
· Microsoft Office 2010 (32-bit only)
· Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer 8

Numerous Usability and Administration additions:
· Lookup List / Cross field validation support which enables a lookup list to change based on the value of another field so users are presented with accurate information
· Option to "Show contact name on activity tabs" for both pending and historical activities so users can see in-depth contract information when viewing rolled-up list of activities
· Simultaneous alarms displayed on a single screen to help prevent multiple alarm pop-ups from getting buried beneath other windows in GoldMine
· Import a One-Button-Sync profile using Outlook: Administrator can now send a new one‐button sync profile to an undocked user via e‐mail and an end-user can apply the profile even when using Outlook for e-mail.

GoldMine Corporate Edition 7.6 helps improve product quality and performance with over 70 product fixes and enhancements!

HTML Images in E-Mail Templates

2010-08-08T00:09:00Z

Imbedding images/graphics, as attachments, into your E-Mail templates can make each and every e-mail you send larger than it needs to be, and can fill your recipients server with needless attachments. Let's be frank, who really wants a copy of your logo every time they exchange an e-mail with you... no one.

That said, GoldMine gives you a way to display that logo or image without sending the dreaded file attachments each time. If you look carefully at the e-mail most of you received announcing this new post, none of the 5 images were directly attached to the e-mail. They all had embedded instructions telling your e-mail client where to go to display those files. In our case, a folder in our website. Let's get to showing you how to do that with GoldMine.

1. Make sure you have a copy of the image that had been professionally adjusted to just the right size.
     Forcing the image smaller or larger will distort it and make it look amateurish.
2. Have your web or IT person upload the file somewhere on your website and provide you with the path.
3. Create your e-mail template as previously shown.
     You may want to Clone your previous version (right-click | Clone...)

GoldMine Customers using v6.0 or greater
While editing the template, you have Rich text (HTML) on, you will see a button near the end of the toolbar for "Insert Picture".

4. Place the cursor in the location you want the image to reside and click the "Insert Picture button.
5. In the Picture Source field enter the image location. www.yourwebsite.com/yourimage.jpg
      Our logo is simply:  www.180ds.com/sig/180_sig.jpg
      And click OK.

Your image should now appear in the template.

GoldMine Customers using versions older than v6.0
While editing the template, if you have Rich text (HTML) on, you should see a button at the end of the toolbar that looks like an H in brackets. <H>.

4. Click the <H> and you will now see all the HTML code that goes into creating such a simple template.
      If you look in the middle of all the code, you should recognize your text.

5. Place your cursor in the location where you want your image to reside.
      If you want it at the very bottom make sure it goes in front of the
                  </FONT><BODY><HTML>

6. The code you will be adding is
                  <DIV><IMG src="http://www.yourwebsite.com/yourimage.jpg"></DIV>

      Our logo is simply:
                 <DIV><IMG src="http://www.180ds.com/sig/180_sig.jpg"></DIV>

7. Click the <H> again and your logo should appear where you added the code.

Viola!

Using E-Mail Templates

2010-08-03T15:04:07Z

The last post was originally titled "Using E-Mail Templates", then it was brought to my attention that what I really taught you was how to create E-Mail templates... hence the rename. So now I guess it's time to show you how best to leverage these templates.

GoldMine E-Mail Templates are used in 3 ways:

1. Subject-line drop-down messages
2. E-Mail Merge to a list
3. E-Mail Signature Files (look for a future post)

Subject-Line Drop-Down Messages
This feature is typically used to convey a standardized message, answers to frequently asked questions, etc.

1. Start an e-mail like you would any other, possibly using the E-mail hyperlink on the record.
2. At the end of the subject line, on the right side, you will see a triangle pointing down ▼. Click on the arrow
     and a drop-down list of all your public and personal templates will appear.

3. Clicking on the desired template, it will populate the e-mail subject-line and body with the template text.
     You can now make some minor changes first or click the Send button and the e-mail will go out "as is".

E-Mail Merge to a List
E-Mail Templates are also frequently used to do 1-to-1 marketing to a subset of contacts in your database. Whether that be a purchased list you just imported, predefined contacts, or an add-hock list, the steps are the same.

1. Define your recipient list. Be that using the Contact Search Center (for GoldMine Premium users) or a
     Filter, Group, or SQL Query (for Corporate and Standard users).
2. PE Users: Click on Actions | Begin E-Mail Merge...
     CE/SE Users: Click on Contact | Create E-mail | E-mail Merge...

This will bring up the Mail Merge Properties Window with the Template tab open

3. From the Template tab, select the desired template.
4. Click on the Recipient tab.
5. Select your Group or Filter, if not already active.
6. Make sure you select Queue for delivery.
7. Click OK and GoldMine will generate individual E-Mails to all your selected recipients and place
     them in your Outbox.

8.   Open your E-Mail Center.
9.   Click your Outbox folder and scan through the list to be sure all looks good.
10. Right-click on the Outbox folder and select Send All (you can also send in smaller chunks by
      highlighting some of your messages and sending just those).

Last Note: Why "Queue for delivery" instead of "Send now"?

THE OOPS FACTOR: What if I selected the wrong filter? What if I selected the wrong template? What if I discover a mistake in my template? Queueing gives you 1 last chance to correct your mistakes. If you made a mistake, delete all the e-mails in your Outbox and try again.
SENDING HICCUPS: Have you ever started sending a batch of e-mails and an error pops up? SMTP fails to respond, bad message, etc? Whether you have or not, queueing lets you recover from that without wondering who got the e-mails and who did not. The ones in your outbox have not gone out, the ones not in your outbox have gone out... it's that simple.
VOLUME CONTROL: Although we will discuss tools to help you manage your sending volume later, for those that can't just send 10K+ e-mails all at once... queueing lets you create them ALL while allowing you to send them in smaller chunks.

Creating E-Mail Templates

2010-07-02T16:07:00Z

Of all the "under-utilized" features found in GoldMine, E-Mail Templates are one of the easiest to set up and use. Though used more often over the last couple of years for signature files, too many customers do not appear to be taking advantage of this tool.

Benefits of using E-Mail Templates:
  * SAVE TIME! - No need to retype things over and over again.
* STANDARDIZE! - Everyone in the company conveys the same information, the same way every time.
* COMPANY IMAGE! - Name and Brand recognition are valuable business assets, ALL should present it right!
* KNOWLEDGE-SHARE - Even the least technical or product-aware staff member can pass on valuable info.
* MARKETING! - Quickly and easily get the word out to all your customers and prospects.
* AND MANY MORE!!

So how do we set them up? Glad you asked.
1. Open the Document Management Center
            In PE: Go To | Document Templates
            In CE/SE:   View | Document Management Center...
2. You will see a root folder called Document Templates. The next root folder is called E-mail Templates.
3. Right-Click the E-mail Templates folder and click New...

A new, blank template will open

4. If you intend to use different fonts, colors, images, etc, put a check-mark next to Rich text (HTML).

We will talk more about HTML templates in a future blog post regarding "logo insertions" and "high-impact graphics".

5. Type in a Subject.
6. Enter the text of the e-mail.
7. Use the Insert field button to add contact information to the template.
8. Use the Attach files button to include attachments in the template.
9. Use the Check Spelling button!!

10. Click Save template when done.
11. Now its ready to use for mass E-Mail merging or simple "one-off" e-mails!

Stay tuned for more on E-Mail Templates! This entry is 1 of several in a series to be posted over the next month or so.

E-Mail Etiquette (16 Tips for Success)

2010-06-20T00:43:00Z

For many businesses, e-mails have become by-far the most commonly used method to communicate to their customers, prospects, vendors, and to other staff members. When that happens, the e-mail correspondence takes the place of the "sharp suit", the well-designed business card, the attention getting presentation folder, and the well-adorned lobby. That is why I am frequently amazed at how little attention businesses give to the appearance and general handling of e-mails. The company has a dress code, company shirts, behavior policies, etc, but no policies and no training for how to handle electronic communications. Here are a few tips to consider for good e-mail "netiquette".

1. Create an e-mail use policy and provide training (should I use the word "liability"?).
2. Require timely and complete responses.
3. Reply to ALL questions, not just the first one noticed while speed-reading.
4. Attempt to pre-empt further questions.
5. Require that all users spell-check ALL e-mails by default.
6. Use corporate templates for frequently asked questions.
7. Quote the sender's e-mail to establish continuity (aka creating a "thread")
8. Don't type in ALL CAPITALS, or too much punctuation!!!!!
9. Please use meaningful subject lines. It makes finding e-mails later a lot easier for everyone. If appropriate, modify the subject when replying.
10. Avoid using deliver and read receipts for all e-mails.
11. Avoid using e-mail for confidential information. E-Mails are not truly private.
12. Limit the number of cc's listed.
13. Standardize e-mails closing company-wide.
14. Avoid long closings, with large amounts of text and/or logos.
15. Avoid sending attached logos, use HTML references to images (look for a future blog post on how).
16. Unless required by your legal council, avoid using full closing with each and every back and forth.

Running GoldMine from your Mobile Phone

2010-06-14T15:24:00Z

Review contact information
wMobile lets you work with ALL contact related information such as history, linked documents, additional contacts, details, sales forecasts and notes.

Access Team Calendars
		Schedule and complete activities for yourself or any team member. View graphical monthly, weekly and daily calendars. See daily to do lists and complete today's calls.

View contact maps and Directions
See a map of any contact, get turn by turn directions and see what other contacts are closest to where you are or are going.

Link Email to Contacts
		Link any incoming or outgoing email to contact history. Access the complete contact database as your email address book. Use GoldMine templates on the mobile phone.

Work with sales forecasts and opportunity.
wMobile delivers a full fledged opportunity manager. Update and enter new sales opportunities from the road to keep company sales forecasts current.


	JUNE 2010

	Eastern USA time

TUESDAY 06/15

11:00 AM

4:00PM

THURSDAY 06/17

11:00 AM

4:00PM

TUESDAY 06/22

11:00 AM

4:00PM

THURSDAY 06/24

11:00 AM

4:00PM

TUESDAY 06/29

11:00 AM

4:00PM

Showing Completed Activities in the Calendar

2010-05-28T21:23:00Z

Here's a question I get asked from time to time: "How do I show my completed activities when looking at my GoldMine calendar?" A few of you might actually remember asking. The steps are the same for all versions of GoldMine.

1. Open the Calendar.

2. Right-click in an area where you don't have anything scheduled.

3. Click the Activities... option.

4. On the right column, turn on the completed items you want shown.
5. Click OK.

The completed items will show in Grey and with a ~~STRIKETHROUGH~~ font.

Automatically Scheduling Follow-ups

2010-05-19T02:22:00Z

When we conduct GoldMine training, or when we have the opportunity to do a detailed Implementation & Design Meeting, we introduce our customers to all the "Best Practices". However, not every customer opps for training or design. Fortunately for those, we now have our Blog.

At 180° Solutions, we subscribe to the philosophy that for most of us, 99% of all completed activities require some kind of follow-up. We also believe that you should be "touching" your customers and prospects regularly. Regular contact builds "top of mind awareness" for you, your company, and your products and services. The 2nd one can be addressed through regular marketing. But how do you help insure you schedule that next follow-up each and every time? Well GoldMine has a solution for that.

Everytime you complete an activity, the option to schedule a follow-up is just a click away.

But I promised you "Automatic" Follow-ups, didn't I? Out of the box, GoldMine does not have this selected by default.  You and your users have to "remember" to click the check-box.   And if 99% of activities require a follow-up...    Here's how to turn it on by default:

For GoldMine Premium Edition 8.5 Users:
1.   From your menu select Tools | Options
2.   Click on the Schedule tab
3.   Place a check-mark next to "Prompt to schedule a follow-up activity when completing an activity".
3b. Place a check-mark next to "Carry over completion notes when scheduling follow-up calls". (optional)
4.   Click the OK button.

For Premium 8.0x, Corporate & Standard Edition Users:
You will need to modify your username.ini file in the GoldMine folder. (in my case, the ALBERTO.ini file)
1.   Open your username.ini file
2.   Under the [GoldMine] section add the following command: Followup=1
3.   Save and Close.

GoldMine Premium 9.0 Release

2010-05-06T12:33:00Z

For all of you who have been "chompin' at the bit" for the release of GoldMine Premium 9.0, the wait may be over. Recently we received notice that GMPE 9.0 is targeted to be generally available end of May / early June 2010. If you haven't already seen it, scroll down to our article on What's New in PE 9 for a sneak preview. If any of you take the plunge early, please note that v9 will not work with a v8 serial number. We have not received word whether they will automatically be sent out or provided upon request. We will be sure to share more details, here on the GoldMine Compass, as needed.

What's New in GoldMine 9.0

2010-03-30T01:25:00Z

You may have already heard the chatter, GoldMine Premium Edition 9.0 will soon be released. Right now the rough window is mid-May... though that can easily change. However, as we do with any new version from any vendor, it will likely be another 30-90 days after it's released before we put our own stamp of approval on it. That said, what we have seen so far has us "chompin' at the bit" for this new release. Here's a little taste to get you equally excited.

Complete CRM Dashboards
A complete set of CRM Interactive Dashboards are now included in GoldMine Premium Edition 9.0. You will have the ability to view all your CRM processes, in REAL-TIME, using an easy-to-use graphical or grid interface. Additionally, it includes a set of configurable dashboard tools to edit or enhance any dashboard provided in GMPE 9.0. You will be able to run dashboards for opportunities, campaigns, cases or any GoldMine activity.

Enhanced Microsoft Outlook Integration
GoldMine has been providing out of the box integration with Microsoft Outlook for many years. GoldMine Premium Edition 9.0 takes the integration to a whole new level. Version 9 provides a real-time preview of GoldMine information directly from Outlook without having to switch back and forth between the two applications. GoldMine information is not only viewable from Outlook, but users can drill down into that GoldMine record for edits or further business follow-up without ever leaving Outlook. This quick, detailed view gives you access to important record information such as contact details, pending or historic activities. It also enables greater knowledge and quicker response time from users to clients.

Smartphone Capabilities
If your using your Smartphones as a mobile business tool, GMPE 9.0's Outlook Integration enhancements, coupled with existing tools that synchronize calendars between Outlook and smartphones, you can more easily see key contact information when viewing an appointment on their smartphones. (look for a more detailed article coming soon to the GoldMine Compass) In addition, email notifications sent within GoldMine for events such as case assignments can now be delivered directly to your corporate email account, to be viewed on your phone for immediate action.

New Administration Capabilities
GoldMine Premium Edition 9.0 contains multiple administration improvements such as enhanced unattended installation, password policy enhancements and better all around performance.

More Compatibilities
GoldMine Premium Edition 9.0 will now support:

Windows 7
Server 2008
Office 2007 & 2010 (later)
and both 32 & 64bit Operating Systems

Look for more from us later!

Welcome!

2010-03-18T02:26:00Z

Welcome to The GoldMine Compass blog!

The purpose of this Blog is to help pass on General Information, Promotions, Suggestions, as well as Tips & Tricks to our customers, prospects, and the general GoldMine community. We are hopeful that using the blog format, The GoldMine Compass, originally created as a newsletter, will allow us to pass on information faster and easier than ever before.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact us at Blog@180DegreeSolutions.com.

Thanks!
The 180 Team